Chimes and drones

Imagine the sound of chimes – eleven bells in all — ringing out from the oldest public building in Canada’s first national park.

Clavier keyboard

I’ve climbed a ladder inside the belfry of St. George’s-in-the-Pines in Banff to play a unique and rare clavier keyboard; the complex of levers and pulleys activate the peal of bells in the tower.

The bronze bells were cast in the 600-year-old British foundry of John Taylor & Sons, shipped through the Panama Canal then hoisted into St. George’s-in-the-Pines’ bell tower in the spring of 1927.

Sounding the Angelus

The bells have retained their pleasing pitches to this day; an exquisite panel of stained glass directs attention toward the heavens — the chime up yonder in the bell tower.

April 1927

LISTEN with headphones for the 3D audio effect (the acoustic image is more authentic and intimate). Right above your head, the bells are less than a metre away; the largest weighs close to a tonne. That clanking sound you hear from below is my hands activating the mechanics of the clavier keyboard.
http://www.appropriate-entertainment.com/files/Download/1A_St_George.mp3

For this experimental series of recordings — noodles in ‘real time’ – please listen for the drones of harmonic sound that trail long after the bells have been struck. Kindly comment and tell me how they ‘feel’. Do the drones please you? Is this approach – washes of bell sound – something you would like to hear in Winston Churchill Square? http://www.appropriate-entertainment.com/files/Download/1_St_George.mp3

What’s remarkable about this set of chimes is how they carry throughout the town of Banff and the Bow Valley. You can hear them up at the top of Sulphur Mountain, “their chiming carried in clear, still mountain air.”

My thanks to Rev. George Belcher and the congregation for permission to play the chime at all hours of the day.

HARMONY OF THE SQUARE : reshaping urban racket

The rattle and roar — the hum of Edmonton's downtown core — is relentless as the winter; it's a fact of life in our city. So if you can't fix it, why not feature it?

Carillon bells have shaped the sound of communities all over the world.

Using 3D acoustic modeling software, HARMONY OF THE SQUARE illustrates how bell sounds can be added into our urban mix — to play upon constructed space — harmonizing with the persistent racket in and around Churchill Square.

And as the pitch of sound in the downtown ebbs and flows throughout the day and season, the carillon bells atop the Friendship Tower overlooking the Square performs in a duet — noise becomes its necessary partner — to create an ongoing song of the city.

Listen with headphones or a good pair of earbuds to hear the 3D effect.

Kindly comment where and when you hear the most appealing bell sounds (couldn't help the pun!). I'm especially interested in your personal experience of unusual sounds projected by the carillon throughout the Square.

Return to this site often. More sound content will be frequently added.